It's interesting. I use film canisters for my males to build nests in, and they keep all the fry with them in there for around 3-4 days. During this time the female will usually help pick up any fallen eggs or fry and put them back up in the nest and defend against the fish in the neighbouring tank.

Then once the fry become free-swimming the male completely forgets about them. He doesn't do any further care and so I have tanks that have fry of all ages swimming around as I can't catch them all.

Three of my males have just been living in their film canisters lately. As soon as the newest batch of fry leaves the nest they spawn again. I swear they have been spawning 2-3 times a week lately.

It's interesting that splendens males seem to be a lot more involved with caring for their fry, even after they leave the nest.

Nothing better than a great dad though! They make the whole process so much easier.

Littlebettafish, WOW! That is interesting! So you leave the female in with the male? Is the canisters complete, or do you cut them in half? I guess I'm thinking of what you mean by "canister". The plastic container with a lid on it. The male doesn't try to chase off the female?

I just went to your web page. Cool! So you werent' talking about splendens. lol Splendens will usually try to kill the female if you leave her in. However I had one pair that I swear would have been tank mates. as long as she stayed on "her" side of the tank he ignored her. I was scared that he would eventually change his mind and I wouldn't be home whenhe did, and come home to a dead Mom. So I pulled her. Wish I had vacation time to sit and watch that one play out.lol These things are going to turn me into a hermit.lol

My bettas are wilds so the males don't want to eat their females. They do chase and nip and I have a pair that used to tear strips off each other but not like splendens will.

The film canisters are those little black ones that used to hold film for cameras. I just float it in the tank and the male goes in (they are submerged bubblenesters so like to nest under/in things) and builds his nest. They then spawn and the male stays in the canister and guards his nest/fry. The female plays a very active role in defending the area in a lot of cases.

It's why I thought it was cool to see how involved some splendens are with their fry. My males are good dads initially, but their interest just drops right off once the fry leave the nest.

Haha you posted in between.

But yeah I spawned splendens a couple of times (dad was an egg eater unfortunately) and as soon as they were finished spawning that female was not allowed anywhere near the nest. And that had been a very peaceful pairing.

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